Anyone with an autistic toddler?

Laura - posted on 06/04/2010
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My son was recently diagnosed as mildly autistic. He is doing very well with early intervention and preschool. He can count to 10, name shapes and colors and animals and lots of other objects, but his communication is still lacking. He has words but not a lot of language. It is hard to know how much he is and isn't doing is age appropriate or autism. He gets frustrated when he can't make us understand his needs because he doen't know how to put the words together. He is in speech therapy and it has helped but it appears we do have a long way to go. He is my first so without direct comparison, I didn't know he was that behind until his pediatrician was concerned. It has been very eye opening to see other kids his age and their ability to form sentences, call other children by name and play together.

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Emma - posted on 07/03/2010

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My daughter was diagnosed with Apergers Syndorme in March. She struggles a lot socially, has delayed speech and understanding of language, needs a strict routine, problems with food, has many sensory problems and repetitive behaviours and phrases. She is also very bright when it comes to problem solving :-) If you have any concerns, go and see your GP and/or health visitor. In our area there is a service called Portage, they can help to get an assesment.I knew Olivia had trouble from a very young age and had to keep pushing before i got taken seriously. As soon as they saw her at the Child Development Unit and listened to how she is at home and groups they were pretty sure. In her assesment she saw the consultant, speech and language therapist, occupational therapist and the psychologist and they all agreed she had Aspergers.She is doing really well with PECS and just needs things wording in a certain way using minimal language and being given time to process. She feels a real need to be in control and has frequent meltdowns. She hardly sleeps and is on the go constantly! I love her dearly and just wish i could make life easier for her.We're very lucky to have these children in our lives. The achievements they can make given love and support are brilliant. My little girl said 'mummy' for the first time aged 2yrs and 4 months and i couldn't have been prouder!

Some of the major red flags are: repetitive behaviors (scratching cuts repeatedly, head banging, etc.), speech delays (not forming 2-3 word sentences), unresponsive to their name, not very social with others their age, has trouble indicating what they want, and gets frustrated easily. If you go to the autism speaks website it should help you out (autismspeaks.org).

I was just wondering what symptoms prompted you to have your son evaluated for being autistic? I've been having concerns lately with my son and his speech along with a few other things. And a medication I was on when I was pregnant has a chance of causing autism in a certain percentage of children. Just trying to figure out where to go from here.

That sounds like the program my friend's son was in. It's through the public school system and they get access to everything that they would when they started school. My friend's son loved it. He would ride the bus to and from school, lunch and snacks were provided, he could go swimming, do art and music, and go to the library. It really is an awesome program for children who need that extra boost before starting school. Good luck to you and your family.

Yes, PDD-NOS is his diagnosis. We were told that he could be off the spectrum by the time he starts kindergarten. He is currently being evaluated for the public preschool program. He is in a wonderful private preschool now and we hate to take him out of there, but the therapies he can have access to in public school along with special education specialitst teaching him may help more. I am confident he is going to be ok but it is hard to know what is what since he is so young. Thanks for your response and encouragement.

It sounds like your child is high functioning which means that with the therapy he could improve and test of the spectrum before he starts school.

My friend has 2 sons. Her oldest was tested at 2.5-3 and tested on the spectrum but PDD-NOS. With therapy he was off the spectrum the next year. He also qualified to start pre-k at age 3 and with that he will now go to regular VPK next year and he graduated from speech therapy.

Her youngest however is no where near where he should be. He just finished the round of testing for Austism again and they'll know in a couple weeks where he is on the spectrum. However, when they do monthly testing with him he is only at the 12-15 month level. He has a very bad eye gaze and some regression. He doesn't always answer to his name and he doesn't understand very many directions. He's 6 weeks older than my daughter so he's 32 months old. They just got a referral to a neurologist to see if there is something else wrong.

So I wouldn't be too worried about your son. It sounds like he'll be fine with help in speech therapy. If he has sensory issues too you could always look into occupational therapy too. Let me know if you ever need info. I've done my research and have experience from helping with the boys.